Since Kai was born, I have not been able to maintain both an exercise routine and a full work week. I worked this summer to establish at least a routine, so that when I went back to school I would have a starting point. I did establish something, and I liked it. Every other day, after sleeping in until 7:30, and dropping Kai off at school, I would go to the gym for two hours. It was a splendid routine. And, I'll keep it--on vacations.
Sadly, as much as I try, making that trip to the gym happen during the work week has been HARD. So I've been tweaking some things. I have learned how to run on the pavement without killing my shins and ankles, so I have been running more around the neighborhood. I'm going to try the following routine until it starts snowing--
Monday--Run 1 mile before school (It has been happening).
Tuesday--Rodney Yee :) abs before school
Wednesday--Walk with Michelle lunch Rodney Yee :) upper body after school
Thurday--Walk with Michelle lunch/ Gym after school
Friday--Rodney Yee :) abs before school
Saturday--Run 1 mile morning
Sunday--Run 1 mile morning
Also, not exercise related, more peace of mind related--all weekend work happens on Saturday, not Sunday.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Very boring and short list of Exercise Goals
1. Develop my abdominal/core strength
2. Aerobic exercise at the gym at least once a week
3. Run on Wednesdays and Sundays
4. Lose 15 pound (don't judge)
5. Reduce the use of my rescue inhaler which I will if I stick to goal #2.
Addendum:
I have been thinking that I should do the following things every day: push-ups, moving lunges, and some kind of sit-ups. I suppose I should add these to the above very boring and short list.
Also, for future reference: http://danceins.ipower.com/index.html
This place is close to me and has reasonable prices. A future goal...
I have also been thinking that I need to make this more of a holistic approach. I don't believe in the calories-in-calories-out theory. I think I need to eat better food, specifically more vegetables. Eating in is a constant goal but it requires prior planning, keeping the kitchen cleaned, keeping the frig stocked, and keeping my picky eaters (husband and son) also fed. I'm going to have to work a whole system here if I'm going to be successful. However, a recent inventory of the last three dinners that I have had this week: hotdog, pizza, hamburger--has caused me to think, I'd better get on it!!!
7/16/2012--
Running on pavement has not been working out for me. I always have knee pain and or ankle pain. I think I have to stick to the elliptical machine. I'm considering changing gyms because there is one on the way home from work, and perhaps I could go there on Wednesdays...
I tried the push-ups, lunges, etc. every day. Um, yeah--I'm not in shape enough to do all of them every day. So I will play with a rotation. I have only used my inhaler once in the last two weeks!!!!!
2. Aerobic exercise at the gym at least once a week
3. Run on Wednesdays and Sundays
4. Lose 15 pound (don't judge)
5. Reduce the use of my rescue inhaler which I will if I stick to goal #2.
Addendum:
I have been thinking that I should do the following things every day: push-ups, moving lunges, and some kind of sit-ups. I suppose I should add these to the above very boring and short list.
Also, for future reference: http://danceins.ipower.com/index.html
This place is close to me and has reasonable prices. A future goal...
I have also been thinking that I need to make this more of a holistic approach. I don't believe in the calories-in-calories-out theory. I think I need to eat better food, specifically more vegetables. Eating in is a constant goal but it requires prior planning, keeping the kitchen cleaned, keeping the frig stocked, and keeping my picky eaters (husband and son) also fed. I'm going to have to work a whole system here if I'm going to be successful. However, a recent inventory of the last three dinners that I have had this week: hotdog, pizza, hamburger--has caused me to think, I'd better get on it!!!
7/16/2012--
Running on pavement has not been working out for me. I always have knee pain and or ankle pain. I think I have to stick to the elliptical machine. I'm considering changing gyms because there is one on the way home from work, and perhaps I could go there on Wednesdays...
I tried the push-ups, lunges, etc. every day. Um, yeah--I'm not in shape enough to do all of them every day. So I will play with a rotation. I have only used my inhaler once in the last two weeks!!!!!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
On Procrastination
Here is something really funny--I created a blog last September with high hopes to write myself to clarity. I then promptly abandoned the blog. I thought about it a lot, but I didn't even have the common decency to put it into foster care. Instead, I'm sure that it has just been running around in the street--playing in traffic--maybe panhandling. I don't know, you know, whatever neglected blogs do when their namesake is Colfax (which I might add really does get a bad rap).
So, the thing about blogs is I don't really know who my audience is. I think about writing ALL of the time. Some of these writerly thoughts revolve around fictional characters, worlds, ideas, that I quickly shush because I've told myself the following things: You don't have time to write fiction. Your fiction--if it ever manifests itself--will be a Cervantes type of fiction, written in your retirement when you have time. Now is for focusing on the responsibilities in front of you (specifically the ones that pay the bills). You could never write for a paycheck because you require the structure of externally imposed deadlines, etc. I also think about writing about revelations: things that I have come to realize are true, but I didn't believe them or even understand them before the revelation. I contemplate this writing with a very authoritative voice. It is the same voice I had when I was a little kid and I pretended I had my own How To television program and would narrate my chores by explaining to my nonexistent audience with painstaking details how to make things like Kool Aid or your bed. When I lose myself in pondering this revelation writing, I think two things: Who gives a shit? And, do I sound like this when I am teaching? (Oh God, please let the answer be NO). But the final writing--the writing that actually provoked me to write a blog-- is the writing that I am compelled to do to track and publish goals. I feel like I have been living on the edge of greatness for a long time. And, yet--I obstruct it. I make excuses. And, still--I court it while always keeping it just out of reach. Milana Kundera warns that it is dangerous to live through metaphors, so maybe I will take his advice and state my predicament more plainly. I don't act on the things that I not only know will make me great, but also I know am capable of doing. It really is that simple. I know that having the life I want--the life that is almost what I have but so much better--entails a concerted realignment of my habits. I suppose that in some Jerry Maguire way I think writing about my goals is the way to hold myself accountable for the habits of who I am.
So here is the funny thing, I know that putting things off is my biggest weakness; I created a blog to track the things I should be doing; after months of neglect, I revisit my blog only to find two entries. The first one, I actually published, the second would-be post that has idled in limbo was titled "Procrastination". Approximately forty minutes ago I opened the post titled "Procrastination" wondering what sagacious wisdom I might have on the topic of putting things off. I found a blank document. I suppose I was putting off that wisdom until, well, June 30th.
So what are these life altering goals that I have? In no particular order--make time to do the following things:
1. Be present for my family to enjoy each others company and appreciate how sacred family really is.
2. Nurture my friendships.
3. Make exercise an integral and frequent part of my life.
4. Keep my house clean enough.
5. Never, ever again get more than two weeks behind on grading.
6. Read voraciously the way that I did before I became a teacher and a mother and had excuses not to read...
7. Write about it.
So, the thing about blogs is I don't really know who my audience is. I think about writing ALL of the time. Some of these writerly thoughts revolve around fictional characters, worlds, ideas, that I quickly shush because I've told myself the following things: You don't have time to write fiction. Your fiction--if it ever manifests itself--will be a Cervantes type of fiction, written in your retirement when you have time. Now is for focusing on the responsibilities in front of you (specifically the ones that pay the bills). You could never write for a paycheck because you require the structure of externally imposed deadlines, etc. I also think about writing about revelations: things that I have come to realize are true, but I didn't believe them or even understand them before the revelation. I contemplate this writing with a very authoritative voice. It is the same voice I had when I was a little kid and I pretended I had my own How To television program and would narrate my chores by explaining to my nonexistent audience with painstaking details how to make things like Kool Aid or your bed. When I lose myself in pondering this revelation writing, I think two things: Who gives a shit? And, do I sound like this when I am teaching? (Oh God, please let the answer be NO). But the final writing--the writing that actually provoked me to write a blog-- is the writing that I am compelled to do to track and publish goals. I feel like I have been living on the edge of greatness for a long time. And, yet--I obstruct it. I make excuses. And, still--I court it while always keeping it just out of reach. Milana Kundera warns that it is dangerous to live through metaphors, so maybe I will take his advice and state my predicament more plainly. I don't act on the things that I not only know will make me great, but also I know am capable of doing. It really is that simple. I know that having the life I want--the life that is almost what I have but so much better--entails a concerted realignment of my habits. I suppose that in some Jerry Maguire way I think writing about my goals is the way to hold myself accountable for the habits of who I am.
So here is the funny thing, I know that putting things off is my biggest weakness; I created a blog to track the things I should be doing; after months of neglect, I revisit my blog only to find two entries. The first one, I actually published, the second would-be post that has idled in limbo was titled "Procrastination". Approximately forty minutes ago I opened the post titled "Procrastination" wondering what sagacious wisdom I might have on the topic of putting things off. I found a blank document. I suppose I was putting off that wisdom until, well, June 30th.
So what are these life altering goals that I have? In no particular order--make time to do the following things:
1. Be present for my family to enjoy each others company and appreciate how sacred family really is.
2. Nurture my friendships.
3. Make exercise an integral and frequent part of my life.
4. Keep my house clean enough.
5. Never, ever again get more than two weeks behind on grading.
6. Read voraciously the way that I did before I became a teacher and a mother and had excuses not to read...
7. Write about it.
Friday, September 2, 2011
I'm Trying Something...
So, I posted some resolutions regarding work and life balance on my facebook page the other day, and I was surprised at the number of people who responded. I wanted to continue that dialogue, but I have found that facebook is cluttered with friends that I like but that I am not sure really want to read everything that I post. I suppose that this is my phase two to facebook and writing for a public audience.
So here goes. Lately, I have had the profound need to write as a means of bettering myself. A few things spurred this on. These things--in no particular order--are: reading for fun, exercise, my sister Tracey, Jason's blog, cancer, and a new school year. I may go into detail on these in the future--but I don't know, since a personal blog--that people can see--is a new apparatus for me, I'm really not sure how organized I'll be in my thinking. My previous "old-school" paper journals have always been for my eyes only and well a random array of ideas.
I will say that the one focus or purpose that I am seeking is to reflect on my professional goals in a venue that allows those I care about and those who care about me to talk about sustaining a meaningful and satisfying career while also enjoying my life which is mostly Jeff and Kai but also some other important things...
I remember when I was in college reading Ben Franklin's autobiography. In certain sections he would talk about this crazy chart that he made to track his virtue and vise. He literally made a graph and ranked himself every night. Good day Ben you were a hard worker, but you've got to put that vanity in check--yet again. That sort of stuff! I remember vanity was always the one character trait that he had to work on. I always thought that was funny. Of course, Steven Covey made a lot of money capitalizing on Franklin's idea. I don't really want to make a lot of money--I just want to have my own version of a nightly (or really probably biweekly) self-check on the distance between my ideal self and my actual self.
I recently wrote to a friend that I believe in writing. I believe it has the power to change us because when we write something down, we face it. We face ourselves. This blog is me facing myself in front of my friends. I hope it yields what I want it to.
So here goes. Lately, I have had the profound need to write as a means of bettering myself. A few things spurred this on. These things--in no particular order--are: reading for fun, exercise, my sister Tracey, Jason's blog, cancer, and a new school year. I may go into detail on these in the future--but I don't know, since a personal blog--that people can see--is a new apparatus for me, I'm really not sure how organized I'll be in my thinking. My previous "old-school" paper journals have always been for my eyes only and well a random array of ideas.
I will say that the one focus or purpose that I am seeking is to reflect on my professional goals in a venue that allows those I care about and those who care about me to talk about sustaining a meaningful and satisfying career while also enjoying my life which is mostly Jeff and Kai but also some other important things...
I remember when I was in college reading Ben Franklin's autobiography. In certain sections he would talk about this crazy chart that he made to track his virtue and vise. He literally made a graph and ranked himself every night. Good day Ben you were a hard worker, but you've got to put that vanity in check--yet again. That sort of stuff! I remember vanity was always the one character trait that he had to work on. I always thought that was funny. Of course, Steven Covey made a lot of money capitalizing on Franklin's idea. I don't really want to make a lot of money--I just want to have my own version of a nightly (or really probably biweekly) self-check on the distance between my ideal self and my actual self.
I recently wrote to a friend that I believe in writing. I believe it has the power to change us because when we write something down, we face it. We face ourselves. This blog is me facing myself in front of my friends. I hope it yields what I want it to.
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